carolina southern railroad is a short line rail operator running on less than 100 miles (160 km) of rail at a maximum speed of 10 mph (16 km/h). it transports mostly freight brought to it from national rail operators. the company makes one scheduled delivery per month into the city of myrtle beach.[51] it is located off of main street in conway, south carolina and is one of the few remaining train depots in south carolina. it has been painstakingly restored to its former glory and the carolina southern railroad has become one of the frequent destinations for freight services as well as passenger cars and observational locomotives. the railroad was originally erected in late 1886 and the first train steamed into the conway depot in december 1887. the carolina southern railroad stands as a permanent landmark in southern history. carolina southern railroad is a member of the carolina rails system with connections that run from whiteville, north carolina to mullins, south carolina and also from chadbourn, north carolina to conway. carolina southern railroad is also responsible for operation of the waccamaw coast line railroad, which is a railway that runs from conway to myrtle beach. on august 30, 2011, carolina southern railroad voluntary shut down because several bridges along the rail were overdue for maintenance. the shutdown caused carolina southern railroad to lay off nearly all of its employees. on may 24, 2012, the federal railroad administration (fra) commenced a bridge inspection on the csr and the waccamaw coastline railroad (the horry county portion of rail). fifty-two of 187 bridges were inspected and seven had critical defects. on may 26, 2011, the csr voluntarily ceased operation, so that they could bring in a certified bridge engineer to inspect the seven critical bridges and prepare a plan for their repairs. based on the engineer's recommendations, csr made the necessary repairs on the bridges and csr resumed operations august 8, 2011. the fra returned to inspect the bridges and made a recommendation that csr cease operations until all bridge repairs were completed.[52] there are currently efforts to bring the railroad back online.[53][54][55][56][57][58][59][59][60][61][62]
